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Tue, 03 Mar 2015 22:35:25 +0000en-UShourly1Presidents Day: George W. Bush and John Paul IIhttp://www.catholicvote.org/presidents-day-george-w-bush-and-john-paul-ii/
http://www.catholicvote.org/presidents-day-george-w-bush-and-john-paul-ii/#commentsMon, 20 Feb 2012 15:50:17 +0000Paul Kengorhttp://www.catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?p=27087Today is Presidents Day. Though America has had only one Catholic president, we’ve had some presidents with very good relationships with Catholics, including some popes. I’ve written about Ronald Reagan and those relationships. I’ve also so written about George W. Bush. Bush was very sympathetic to Catholics, so much so that some speculated that he was considering converting to the Catholic Church.

That’s something I cannot confirm, but I’m happy to recommend an excellent new book by Bush’s deputy director of public liaison, Tim Goeglein. Goeglein has written The Man in the Middle: An Inside Account of Faith and Politics in the George W. Bush Era. It’s a fascinating account of not only President Bush but of Goeglein’s personal rise and fall and redemption. And it’s loaded with material of special interest to Catholics.

Goeglein, a Lutheran, was in charge of White House outreach and liaison to America’s Catholic community. “The friendships and relationships I forged with Catholics were among the highlights of my time with President Bush,” writes Goeglein. “I came to see the Catholic Church as the single most important institution in the world advocating and defending the sacredness of all human life, the sanctity of marriage, the dignity faith confers on the human condition, and perhaps most importantly, the centrality of the traditional family.”

None of this was lost on the president that Goeglein served. “Although the president was not Catholic,” notes Goeglein, “he had a Catholic sensibility.”

Goeglein details President Bush’s meetings with cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and Catholic laymen, from Cardinal Theodore McCarrick to Michael Novak. He also details the three meetings that Bush had with John Paul II, two at the Vatican and one at the pope’s summer home.

In their first meeting together in July 2001, Bush and John Paul II talked about a “wide range” of issues both foreign and domestic, from religious freedom to the death penalty, the latter of which they disagreed. The pontiff appreciated Bush reinstituting the Mexico City policy banning taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood International. But perhaps most significant was their discussion of embryonic stem-cell research. Bush was studying the issue intensely, with a major policy announcement planned for August, where he would decide against government funding of embryos. That discussion with John Paul II, said Goeglein, “helped shape and mold” Bush’s thinking.

Bush’s respect and admiration for John Paul II was great. “I’m not poetic enough to describe what it’s like to be in his presence,” Bush told reporters. He added of the Catholic Church: “One of the things about the Catholic Church that I admire—it’s a church that stands on consistent and solid principle.” And John Paul II himself was solid, said Bush; indeed, in a very St. Peter-like pronouncement, Bush described the pope as “a clear thinker who was like a rock.”

In June 2004, the Protestant president conferred upon John Paul II the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award that a president can bestow on anyone.

A year later, Bush was at the pope’s funeral. He knelt in prayer at the pontiff’s casket and was (as Goeglein notes) “deeply touched.” Goeglein writes: “This scene, of an American president kneeling at the Vatican out of respect for the life of Pope John Paul II, was a great image and symbol. Both the president and the pope seemed to meet and find connection at the foot of the cross, and both knew the power and efficacy of prayer in quite moments.”

There’s much more to Tim Goeglein’s book, including other items of keen interest to Catholics—Pope Benedict among them. Alas, for more, you’ll need to buy the book. It’s worth it simply for what Goeglein writes about Bush and John Paul II.

George W. Bush wasn’t a perfect man or president, but he was a good man who made some very tough and very good decisions. And he never left Catholics out of the equation. What the Church thought was important to Bush, and worthy of his respect and consideration and deliberation. Much of what he did, with John Paul II’s approval, from the Mexico City policy to halting taxpayer funding of embryo destruction, was quickly reversed by the current president—with far worse to follow. If Bush’s successor had even a modicum of his respect for the Catholic Church, we wouldn’t be witnessing the current disaster that is the HHS “contraception” mandate. We Catholics could use a George W. Bush right now.

]]>http://www.catholicvote.org/presidents-day-george-w-bush-and-john-paul-ii/feed/4Christmas 1981: A Flame for Freedom in Polandhttp://www.catholicvote.org/christmas-1981-a-flame-for-freedom-in-poland/
http://www.catholicvote.org/christmas-1981-a-flame-for-freedom-in-poland/#commentsThu, 22 Dec 2011 15:59:34 +0000Paul Kengorhttp://www.catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?p=24265December 2011 might not be an anniversary on the minds of American Catholics, but it is close and near and dear to the hearts of Polish Catholics. As American Catholics, we ought to pause here, today, to consider why. The reasons are historically and even spiritually inspiring.

It was 30 years ago, December 13, 1981, that martial law was imposed upon Poland by the communist government. Poles were aghast, horrified, frightened. And so was the man in Rome, a Polish native named John Paul II, and so was another man thousands of miles away in Washington, DC, President Ronald Reagan.

When word of the communists’ actions reached the White House, President Reagan was furious. He wanted to help the people of Poland in any way he could. At that very moment, Reagan committed to save and sustain the Polish Solidarity movement as the wedge that could splinter the entire Soviet bloc, as the first crack in the Iron Curtain.

One of Reagan’s first responses was to call someone he deeply respected: John Paul II. On December 14, he told the Holy Father: “Our country was inspired when you visited Poland, and to see their commitment to religion and belief in God. It was an inspiration…. All of us were very thrilled.”

At that point, Reagan had not yet met John Paul II in person. Reagan had been president only for 11 months. Both he and John Paul II had been shot earlier in the year. Reagan told the Pope that he looked forward to a time when the two men could meet in person. The imposition of martial law added a special urgency. Reagan wanted to meet with the Pope to plan ways to cooperate.

Reagan followed up with two letters to John Paul II, dated December 17 and 29, 1981, neither of which was declassified until July 2000. In the December 17 letter, he asked the Pope to urge Poland’s General Jaruzelski to hold a meeting with Lech Walesa and the Poland’s Archbishop Glemp. In the second letter, Reagan explained the counter-measures his administration was taking against the USSR; he also asked the Pope to use his influence with the Polish Church to lift martial law, to gain the release of detainees, and to resume a dialogue with Solidarity; and he requested that John Paul II press other Western countries to join the United States. “If we are to keep alive the hope for freedom in Poland,” said Reagan, “it lies in this direction.”

There is much more I could say about all of this, having written books on the subject, but one item that happened precisely 30 years ago, right now, on December 23, 1981, is especially moving and notable:

On that date, Reagan held a private meeting in the White House with the Polish ambassador, Romuald Spasowski, and his wife, both of whom had just defected to the United States. Michael Deaver, a close Reagan aide, witnessed the meeting. Deaver later recorded:

The ambassador and his wife were ushered into the Oval Office, and the two men sat next to one another in plush-leather wingback chairs. Vice President Bush, and the ambassador’s wife, sat facing them on a couch.

The ambassador had in his hand a pocket-sized note pad with wire rings and lined paper, and he was obviously referring to notes he wanted to give to the president of the United States. Meanwhile, his wife, a tiny, delicate-looking woman, kept her head in her hands the entire time, while George Bush put an arm around her shoulders to comfort her.

The ambassador said, “It is unbelievable to me that I am sitting in the office of the president of the United States. I wish it were under better circumstances.”

He begged the president never to discontinue Radio Free Europe. “You have no idea,” he said, “what it meant to us to hear the chimes of Big Ben during World War Two. Please, sir, do not ever underestimate how many millions of people still listen to that channel behind the Iron Curtain.”

Then, almost sheepishly, he said, “May I ask you a favor, Mr. President? Would you light a candle and put in the window tonight for the people of Poland?”

And right then, Ronald Reagan got up and went to the second floor, lighted a candle, and put it in the window of the dining room.

Later, in what I still recall as the most human picture of the Reagan presidency, he escorted his guests through the walkway and out to the circular drive on the South Lawn of the White House. In a persistent rain, he escorted them to their car, past the C-9 Secret Service post, holding an umbrella over the head of the wife of the Polish ambassador, as she wept on his shoulder.

That candle might have brought to mind those lit after Mass by a young Karol Wojtyla. Then and now, they burned bright for Russia’s conversion.

But Reagan did more than that. That evening, with Christmas only two days away, the president gave a nationally televised speech watched by tens of millions of Americans. He connected the spirit of the Christmas season with events in Poland: “For a thousand years,” he told his fellow Americans, “Christmas has been celebrated in Poland, a land of deep religious faith, but this Christmas brings little joy to the courageous Polish people. They have been betrayed by their own government.” He made an extraordinary gesture: The president asked Americans that Christmas season to light a candle in support of freedom in Poland.

This was a remarkable display, one that placed all Americans on the side of freedom for Poland—and against the communists.

I’m sure it was appreciated, too, by a Polish Catholic named Karol Wojtyla.

Thirty years ago, December 1981, the communists tried to turn out the lights in Poland. But like a candle in the White House window, Ronald Reagan and John Paul II and the people of Poland kept a flicker of hope alive.

It may seem like a long time ago, distant to the interests of Americans today. In truth, this was a crucial turning point for the world, for freedom, and for faith. It is a history lesson worth taking to heart, especially this Christmas.

]]>http://www.catholicvote.org/christmas-1981-a-flame-for-freedom-in-poland/feed/3Freedom & the End Gamehttp://www.catholicvote.org/24187/
http://www.catholicvote.org/24187/#commentsTue, 20 Dec 2011 16:49:26 +0000Kathryn Lopezhttp://www.catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?p=24187Frequently, when I start out bugging people for their opinions on some breaking news of one sort or another, I have no idea what I’ll get in return. I had some expectations when asking for reactions to the death of Vaclav Havel, but was quickly inundated with deeply moving tributes. Among them, a vivid image from John Paul II biographer George Weigel:

To extend Fr. Józef Tischner’s brilliant metaphor about the Solidarity movement beyond the borders of Poland, the Revolution of 1989 in central and eastern Europe was a “vast forest planted by awakened consciences.” The awakening of those consciences was, of course, a very private, one-by-one thing; everyone had to make up his or her own mind to “live in the truth.” That new “great awakening” was, however, embodied, even as it was led, by two men of conscience, Blessed John Paul II and Václav Havel. They were both literary men, both playwrights, and their writers’ souls gave them unique insights into the specific, lethal wickedness of the Communist project: that it was a structure of lies built on the Big Lie, which was Communism’s denial of the spiritual nature of the human person. Every other idiocy and cruelty of Communism flowed from that. Men who spat in the face of God ended up spitting in the face of their fellow human beings, and built societies in which mendacity dominated the ambient public culture. Conscience demanded that such lies be fought, and the fighting was best done with the weapons of truth — that was the lesson taught by Havel, as it was by the Polish pope.

Václav Havel had a complicated relationship with Christianity and the Catholic Church, but I cannot get out of my mind the image of Blessed John Paul II showing the former president of the Czech Republic the ropes around the Throne of Grace. It must have been a moving reunion.

A new Pennsylvania redistricting map would strengthen five congressional districts held by Republicans while pitting two Democrats (Jason Altmire and Mark Critz) in the same district. http://is.gd/a6heYD

A new Church foundation named after Pope John Paul II promotes Catholic sportsmanship. http://is.gd/QqY10r

The Diocese of Orange recently purchased the Crystal Cathedral once used by TV preacher Robert Schuller. (I really can’t understand why.) Deacon Kandra thinks to renovate the cathedral, the Diocese ought to hire the person who transformed one church from drab to sacred. http://is.gd/skRZ0L

Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Ill., expressed repentance for sins committed by members of the Church, including the sexual abuse of minors. http://is.gd/YH8nyr

“I was taught the faith in Catholic schools using materials that were weak and insubstantial. I wasn’t being taught my faith. The liturgy suffered from experimentation as well,” said Bishop Alexander Sample of Marquette, Mich. http://is.gd/qJLxDF

Herman Cain told his senior staff that he is “reassessing” whether to remain in the race. http://cvote.to/8u

Blessed Pope John Paul II’s Bible and walking stick were untouched from a devastating fire at Catholic retreat center. Consider that a sign. http://cvote.to/8v

Sen. Bob Casey, Jr., D-PA, the phony ”pro-life” Catholic, might just get a strong challenger after all. State House Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi has been meeting with party leaders about a potential run. Huge news. http://cvote.to/8w

Federal prosecutors think you don’t have the right to free speech if you try to tell your fellow citizens about jury nullification. Unreal. http://cvote.to/8x

More Newtmentum. Newt rockets to 38% in South Carolina poll. A new national poll puts him at 33%. http://cvote.to/8y

Catholic writer Mark Shea praises libertarian Steven Greenhut for calling out Christian conservatives who support using tear gas on American protesters. http://cvote.to/8z

Barney Frank, D-Mass., announces he will be retiring from Congress. Frank was a central figure in the Fannie Mae housing bubble and crash. But he would have won reelection had he run. http://cvote.to/90

In honor of his feast day, Little i Apps is offering FOR FREE their John Paul eVotion App today. You can download the app for your Android and your iPhone.

Why don’t you download the app and join us in a novena to Blessed John Paul for our families, for our Church, and for our country? The app even has a daily reminder to pray the novena. (If you don’t have a smart phone, you can pray this novena.)

Blessed John Paul, pray for us!

]]>http://www.catholicvote.org/a-novena-to-blessed-john-paul-ii/feed/2William and Kate and John Paul II, Too!!http://www.catholicvote.org/william-and-kate-and-john-paul-ii-too/
http://www.catholicvote.org/william-and-kate-and-john-paul-ii-too/#commentsThu, 28 Apr 2011 05:40:13 +0000Kathryn Lopezhttp://www.catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?p=16629Wednesday night in Oxford, England, Leonie Caldecott watched her play, The Quality of Mercy, debut on stage (all while working the sound!), as part of England’s sharing in Pope John Paul II’s beatification celebration.

Yes, they found some oxygen there for something other than the royal nuptials!

Caldecott’s play finds young Brits in Rome in 2005, as Pope John Paul II is nearing the end of his earthly stay. The script explains:“The Quality of Mercy draws on the principal themes that concerned this most pastoral of popes: the meaning of our humanity, the nature of freedom, and the universal search for unconditional love.”I talked to Leonie — she and her husband, by the way, edit the beautiful Second Spring, as well as the British version of the blessed monthly Catholic magazine Magnificat — about the play shortly after dress rehearsal.

Lopez: How did you come to write and get The Quality of Mercy on stage?

Caldecott: I wanted to write a play about the Emmaus experience, and was working with a very talented group of kids from my parish, the Oxford Oratory, and our parish priest, who is very keen on drama, around this theme. Then JPII started to feature in the play, partly because I was listening to a CD of music by a talented young British composer, Benedict Nichols, around the English-speaking addresses of JPII, and it inspired me to put him at the centre of the play. I was going to take longer to write it, but then the Holy Father announced his beatification — so we had to get our skates on.

Lopez: What’s at the heart of the play?

Caldecott: The charism of JPII. I have always been fascinated by accounts of his long hikes in the mountains with young people, and I found myself asking, what would Father Wojtyla say to a group of young people from Britain with all the problems and conundrums that face them at the beginning of this new millennium? How would his charism manifest itself to them?

Lopez: How does the play make clear the meaning of our humanity?

Caldecott: I guess partly from the actual demeanor of the Wojtyla character, who presents himself simply as “Charlie” and offers to guide the young people through the Abruzzi mountains to a shrine called Manoppello. In his interactions with the six pilgrims, he encourages them to live their humanity to the full, in the light of Christ. Most of all he gets them to see the full dignity of their humanity, and the importance of according that dignity to others.

Lopez: Freedom is a big theme in your play. It’s important, isn’t it, to see John Paul II’s connection to freedom as more than an issue of the Cold War and nations?

Caldecott: Yes. We have to be free to respond to God’s call to each of us, we have to be free to love one another in a Christ-like way. To develop the fullness of the identity Christ gives us. That in fact is the foundation for healthy political change — the rolling back of the Cold War in Europe will not actually benefit the former Iron Curtain countries unless they have a moral core, and this can’t be manufactured artificially, in isolation from well-functioning individuals and families and local communities. . .

Lopez: Can one play really capture the universal search for unconditional love? Can one pope embody it?

Caldecott: Of course not (to the former)! But I have tried to give six examples of the search, each with his own strengths and vulnerabilities. One pope may not embody it, but a pope can certainly contribute massively to it, if he has the quality of humanity that JPII had. And a second pope can complement that, as Pope Benedict is doing. Deus Caritas Est is a stunning document in this connection: Utterly Benedict’s, and yet to some extent the fruit of the collaboration between him and his predecessor. We are so, so lucky to have had two such men in recent pontificates, back to back.

Lopez: Is mercy key to understanding John Paul II?

Caldecott: Yes, it is at the heart of his pontificate. George Weigel described Dives in Misericordia as expressing the pastoral heart of JPII — and this is the foundation of the play. I am convinced that document is the key to solving all the moral and social problems we are facing now — which is why I put the theme of mercy at the heart of the play. which ends in the early hours of Divine Mercy Sunday in 2005, just after Pope John Paul died.

Lopez: Besides John Paul II, are the cast of characters in your play real people?

Caldecott: No, they are fictional characters. I have used situations I have known about, to some extent, but I have changed a lot as well, letting the characters have a life of their own. I did start out with some concerns I wanted to address, such as the Theology of the Body, but in the end, if the characters are to carry conviction, they have to be more than ciphers for a “problem” or “issue”: They have to live and breathe in their uniqueness and complexity as believable characters.

Lopez: How do you fund something like this?

Caldecott: On a wing and a prayer. We are still fundraising for this production, and though we have had an initial donation, we still need to raise more, as ticket sales won’t cover even the minimal budget we are functioning on. However, it was important to get the project off the ground at this time, to celebrate the Beatification well, so we have had to trust that God will make up our deficit, if we carry out our task with good will and to the highest standard that we can.

Lopez: Are you a JPII worshipper? Is that why you have this play and are not worried his canonization was rushed?

Caldecott: I am a worshipper of Jesus Christ — as he was. He was a better and worthier and greater worshipper than I could ever be, and this is why he inspires me. Pope Benedict XVI is no fool, and if he has hastened this Beatification, I trust his judgment. He has his reasons — I have a sense of what some of those might be — but overall, the Church needs this particular Beatus now: You could say that he is a modern patron saint for Hope against the forces of darkness. If you read Msgr. Oder’s book (he is the postulator) it is clear that while things have been undertaken at a smart pace, the process has been every bit as thorough as it should be.

Lopez: This isn’t meant to be a one-hit-wonder: You hope to do many more plays, establishing a bit of a theatrical apostolate in Oxford. What are your plans? Who are you working with? Who do you hope to work with?

Caldecott: We have established a little company (Divine Comedy Productions) attached to the Oxford Oratory. This is our second production (the first marked the visit of the relics of St. Therese to our church in 2009). It is staged this time at the Catholic Chaplaincy in Oxford, with kind permission and encouragement from the Jesuit fathers and others at the chaplaincy. It is my hope that this work will continue to grow and flourish: There are a number of very bright and talented young people involved, some of whom will go on to write their own material and direct it. This production, and the last one, were directed by my eldest daughter Tessa, who is a theology graduate with a particular interest in theater

Lopez: Do you know of anything like it?

Caldecott: There are some other interesting theatrical initiatives, both in the U.K. and in the U.S. and elsewhere, working along similar lines or in related ways. I am thinking for example of Fr. Peter John Cameron’s work in New York, and something called the Bard School in London. But no one so far as I know is doing something of exactly this nature to highlight the significance of the Beatification.

Lopez: What’s so special about theater?

Caldecott: It is in many ways the Queen of the Arts. It combines the other arts — especially when you add music and dance. Also it is an incarnational art, in that you sit in a real room with real people playing in real time. In his Letter to Artists, Pope John Paul makes many references to this medium that he himself loved to work with when he was young.

Lopez: How much is this theatrical work inspired by Karol Wojtyla’s own young life in the theater?

Caldecott: Quite a bit. I have not read everything that he wrote yet, but what I have seen, and what I know of the “Rhapsodic Theatre” fascinates me. I am passionately interested in a theatre that presents the “interior” picture as well as the exterior one, that takes the inner life of the soul seriously, that takes salvation history seriously as a template that is still alive and relevant today. Obviously the cultural conditions under which I am writing are very different from Wojtyla’s in the ’40s and ’50s in Poland. But I believe one can adapt the fundamental premises for these conditions. Or at least, it’s a worthwhile experiment to undertake!

Lopez: Is there a future for The Quality of Mercy beyond this weekend?

Caldecott: I hope so!

Lopez: You’re quite active for a woman in the Catholic Church. Maureen Dowd, among others, might be surprised. And yet quite orthodox. Does that catch people off guard, as odd? Does it have anything to do with the legacy of John Paul II?

Caldecott: I try not to think about how I impact on people — it would stifle the creativity and the spontaneity, which is crucial to what I do. But yes, I do feel the desire to give expression to faith, to communicate, is a very “new feminist” thing. In theatre especially you are involved in nurturing other people’s talents and potential, as much as expressing your own vision. I feel pretty maternal about this cast in particular, having worked with them for a few years, and being in awe of their commitment and spirit.

Lopez: Have there been any lasting, concrete results from the papal visit to your part of the world last year?

Caldecott: I would say yes. He made a wonderful impression, which has lasted and which has helped a fairly anti-religious culture take the Catholic Church more seriously. But it’s interesting: He is not a communicator in the style of his predecessor. Yet he has the same sense of the importance of “presence” in creating the conditions for an interesting dialogue with the culture. In his quiet way, he has the same open, spontaneous, and sincere spirit that his Polish forerunner had. They have very complementary charisms, as men and as pontiffs. And again: If the quiet, thoughtful German pope is hastening to raise his brother to the altars, he has a very good reason. It was the least we could do to try, in our own country, to contribute to a knowledge of the interior man, Wojtyla, insofar as we had the human resources to do so. It is the interior man who is being beatified, not because he was a pope, but because in every fiber of his being he was — and still is! — a man of God.

The Quality of Mercy continues to play at the Catholic Chaplaincy, Rose Place, Oxford on the 28th and 29th of April at 8 P.M. Details on secondspring.co.uk.

“The death of Pope John Paul II is a loss for humanity. He was the leader of the largest Christian church in the world and a moral leader.

“John Paul II stood against the immorality of communism and ensured that the Church would remain a bulwark of moral truth. He stood for the sanctity of life in a time where the culture of death has made steady advance in western civilization. His leadership, his voice, his compassion will be missed in the life of his Church and the wider world.”

That was Mike Pence, an evangelical Christian member of Congress, reacting to the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005.

And he was far from alone.

Franklin Graham. Pat Robertson. Richard Land.

They all expressed their gratitude for the life and service of Karol Wojtyla.

When John Paul II died, so many of us had our eyes glued to Rome, our knees bent in adoration for the great gift we had in this man and his very public witness in living and dying.

But that day he died, and in the hours and days after, I came to appreciate intensely that some Evangelical Protestants seemed to love him as a brother in Christ as much as so many Catholics.

John Paul II wasn’t just a Catholic hero.

And others didn’t simple appreciate him despite his Catholicism. He didn’t simply “transcend his religion” as some (others) put it at the time.

Apparently Jack Chick anti-papal tracts have little power in the face of loving, courageous, compelling leadership!

And a little evangelical Catholicism.

As my friend and colleague, Ramesh Ponnuru, author of The Party of Death, commented at the time: it was “evidence of how the political struggle over abortion has reconfigured American religion, making possible first joint political action and then joint theological reflection that would have been unimaginable before.”

He is right, of course. The Gospel of Life had so very much to do with it. Especially as it seemed to emanate from his very being.

But, watching the way even evangelicals have been attracted to unpacking (along with the rest of us) the Theology of the Body and so many of the treasures JPII left us, in the years since, I can’t help but it’s even more than that, albeit intimately related to the evil he homed in on.

John Paul II was ever-realistic. Whether we’re talking about Love and Responsibility and the Theology of the Body or the Soviet Union, he dealt in this world, he dealt with the evil of this world. He was evil’s target. And he faced it down. And he was amazingly saved from it. And forgave.

You can’t fake courage like John Paul II had. He had divine help but he knew where he was living. And he knew his call.

And you can’t help but be inspired by it. Because it both comes from and points to something far greater than you or I or any earthly power.

As we pray for Christian unity. As we pray for young people who are so often without role models of loving marriages. As we appear thirsting for leadership. We know that God gives us what we need. Because he gave us John Paul II, who we celebrate this week.

What we really thirst for. That water provides. John Paul II, humanity – thanks be to God, it’s an inspiration, it’s a hope! – and all, is a holy, fatherly, poster boy (if I may).

Not despite his Catholicism but because of it.

That’s why we love him. That’s why Catholics are far from alone.

That is why we keep unpacking what he left us, in his writing, in his witness. In the history. That is why we celebrate.

Evangelicals and Catholics, together.

]]>http://www.catholicvote.org/evangelicals-and-jpii-together/feed/4Bl. John Paul II: Spiritual Grandfather to Millennial Catholicshttp://www.catholicvote.org/bl-john-paul-ii-spiritual-grandfather-to-millennial-catholics/
http://www.catholicvote.org/bl-john-paul-ii-spiritual-grandfather-to-millennial-catholics/#commentsMon, 25 Apr 2011 16:00:53 +0000Thomas Petershttp://www.catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?p=16496The Knights of Columbus asked me to write a reflection on what Pope John Paul the Great meant to me and to Millennial Catholics. I will be in Rome this Sunday for JP2′s Beatification Mass, so this was an excellent opportunity to gather my thoughts:

I was born in 1985, almost eight years into the pontificate of Pope John Paul II.

Like millions of young Catholics around the world, I grew up knowing only him as the pope and universal shepherd of the Church. In grade school I learned about popes who had preceded him, but if I wanted to see a pope, and when I heard about what a pope was doing and saying now, all of my experience was of Pope John Paul II.

This reality begins to explain in part why John Paul II’s 26-year reign had such a universal and formative effect on Millennial Catholics. But of course his effects on my generation go far deeper.

]]>http://www.catholicvote.org/bl-john-paul-ii-spiritual-grandfather-to-millennial-catholics/feed/3Blessed John Paul II: Spiritual Grandfather to Millennial Catholicshttp://www.catholicvote.org/blessed-john-paul-ii-spiritual-grandfather-to-millennial-catholics/
http://www.catholicvote.org/blessed-john-paul-ii-spiritual-grandfather-to-millennial-catholics/#commentsMon, 25 Apr 2011 16:00:41 +0000Thomas Petershttp://www.catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?p=16511I was born in 1985, almost eight years into the pontificate of Pope John Paul II.

Like millions of young Catholics around the world, I grew up knowing only him as the pope and universal shepherd of the Church. In grade school I learned about popes who had preceded him, but if I wanted to see a pope, and when I heard about what a pope was doing and saying now, all of my experience was of Pope John Paul II.

This reality begins to explain in part why John Paul II’s 26-year reign had such a universal and formative effect on Millennial Catholics. But of course his effects on my generation go far deeper.

His teachings touched us. The Catechism of the Catholic Church – which he commissioned and promoted – became the basis for my high school theology education The vision for Catholic education he articulated in Ex Corde Ecclesiae (1990) inspired the education given me by the Catholic college I attended. And his encyclicals Veritatis Splendor (1993) and Fides et Ratio (1998) became the touchstones for an integrated understanding of faith and reason’s complimentary roles, as well as a clear explication of the moral life that Christ reveals as the way to become truly happy.

His courage energized us. Even when I was very young, I was vaguely aware that Pope John Paul II played an instrumental part in lifting the darkness imposed on so much of the world by Soviet Communism. Likewise, there was his courage in defending innocent human life at all stages – in defending the family – in articulating authentic human sexuality as a “gift of self” in marriage – in encouraging young men and women to be open to religious life: I knew it took courage to say such things in the world we inhabit today. He continued proclaiming these truths even after the failed assassination attempt on his life, as well as through the suffering he endured in his later years and the ridicule heaped on him by those who sought to defeat his aims and silence his message – and this courage amazed us.

His energy to proclaim the good news inspired us. No pope in history has travelled more than John Paul II did. As a young man I find his energy daunting. He made a special point in many of this visits to meet the young, and the World Youth Days he founded inspired millions of young Catholics across the globe.

In all of this Pope John Paul II served as a “spiritual grandfather” to our generation: an old man, rich in wisdom, but who still kept the spark of his youth aflame in his heart. He showed to those of us beginning our adult lives that one can be faithful to the great call to be a disciple of Christ throughout one’s entire life. Many of us had good priests, teachers and parents who directly taught us the faith in word and example, but behind all of them loomed the unforgettable figure of the good and loving pope – our grandfather in faith.

My most moving experience with the pope was the time I saw him in person, at the Easter Vigil Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. It would be one of the last Easter Vigils he celebrated in his life. For the beginning of that liturgy, the lights of the entire church were extinguished. John Paul came down the central aisle with his hand steadily holding the Easter Candle. His eyes were fixed on that tiny light at the point of his candle in that great, cavernous space. As he passed my row, I suddenly understood. That tiny light was Christ – the light which illumines the world. Through the intensity of his stare he drew the focus away from himself and towards that light. I’ll admit it: I had come in part to see the pope, but it was Christ who I encountered that night.

That light of faith, which the pope passed to me that night, shines on in my life, as I know it shines on in the hearts of millions of Millennial Catholics around the world. We see that light in the thousands of young men and women in the United States who have heeded the call to become priests and religious sisters, or to pursue holy marriages. We see that light in the unwavering commitment to life and works of charity among young Catholics around the world. We see that light in their love for renewing the liturgy. We see that light carried on by his close friend who succeeded him as pope. And soon, we will see that light in the great joy of the universal Church as we acknowledge that John Paul II has gone to be with the Light of Life – Christ Jesus – for all eternity.

Thank you for showing us the light, the truth and the way, grandpa. We miss you.